Don't Go Away
by Cathey Scully
Summary: You can be what you wanna be, but Don't go Away


Title: Don't Go Away  
  
Author: Cathey Scully  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Category/Keywords: MSR, A, S, 3rd Person POV, Sequel to Everlasting which can be read here: http://bunysliper.diaryland.com/010613_97.html and part two: http://bunysliper.diaryland.com/010613_86.html If you haven't read that, I suggest you do to understand this.  
  
Spoilers: To be Safe, S1-S8  
  
Feedback: Please. Whether you like it or hate it. Send to CatheyScully@the-pentagon.com  
  
Archive: Absolutely, just tell me where so Mulder and I can bring the kids and visit.  
  
Summary: You can be what you wanna be, but don't go away.  
  
Notes/Thanks and Dedications: To Rotem, who is more amazing than words can describe. To Ace of Base, who are credited with the summary and the title. Their music is amazing. And to generally everyone who encouraged a sequel to the original. I hope this lives up to your expectations.  
  
Disclaimer: Everyone except Quinn are not mine, please don't sue me.  
  
Don't Go Away  
By Cathey Scully  
  
It's raining again. It's been raining for the past three days. It started raining when Mom walked out.  
  
She and Dad had a fight. They've been fighting a lot lately. Mostly about work, and each other. Daddy thinks that Mom is seriously at risk of getting hurt, and not spending enough time with her family. Mommy thinks that Dad needs to stop worrying about her so much and that she spends as much time as she can with us. So after this last argument, she walked out.  
  
I ran after her. Begging her not to leave. That was when the rain started. I begged and begged Mom not to leave. She merely tossed her stuff into the trunk of her car and gave me a tight hug.  
  
"I'll be back baby." She whispered, trying to be heard above the roar of the rain. "I'll be back. I have to go though. You'll be a big girl for me and take care of William and Daddy?"  
  
I nodded, "Yes Mommy." She smiled softly and wiped away my tears.  
  
"I love you honey." She whispered, kissing my forehead.  
  
"Love you too mommy." I replied, beginning to shiver from the cold of the rain.  
  
"Go back inside sweetheart. You're going to catch cold."  
  
"I'm okay." I whispered, hoping I could stall her. She sensed this and pulled away after giving me a final squeeze.  
  
"I'll call you soon baby." She told me; giving the hand I stretched out to her a squeeze.  
  
It's been three days and I haven't heard from her. Daddy is going insane looking for her. He says that he's called everyone and they don't know or won't tell him where Mom went. William won't stop crying for more than ten minutes at a time. He wants mom to come home too.  
  
After a week, Daddy finally got someone to tell him where Mom went. She called, letting us know that she's okay and that she loves us. She told Daddy that she was sorry and that they seriously needed to talk. He took William and me to grandma Maggie's and flew out to meet Mom where she went on a case.  
  
It's still raining. Daddy's been gone for 4 days. And Mom a week and a half. Will cries more now than he did before Daddy left. And it's still raining.  
  
Grandma tells me that everything will be all right. She says that if anybody can find their way back to each other, it's my parents. I know that. I also know that it took them long enough to get together, things could also fall apart quite easily.  
  
I didn't want to go to school again today. Grandma made me. She said I'd missed enough and that it would help get my mind off of Mom and Dad. I got into trouble and ended up serving silent lunch and detention, not to mention having a little chat with the principal.  
  
Dad came back alone, four days later. The rain slowed just a bit, but didn't let up. He said that mom would be back once her case was wrapped up. He gave me a hug and a kiss on the head that he said was from mom. Mom called that night and we talked for over an hour. After I went to bed, I heard Daddy talking to her, and I heard one side of a familiar argument.  
  
I punched a kid out at school. He said something about my parents needing therapy and I lost it. He might have a broken nose last I heard. It's okay, the jerk deserved it. They suspended me from school for two weeks, not that I really care. I was only going to make Daddy happy.  
  
Dad called Mom and told her about me getting suspended. They decided to ground me for most of my suspension. When I talked to mom, she sounded super angry about it. She came home about two days in, and was home long enough to yell at me and then take me with her to the office where I sat and did the work that my best friend Kali brought over so I wouldn't fall behind. Then mom hadta go again.  
  
She and Dad talked about him going with her when she left again. She told him that this was something she needed to do on her own. I had no idea what the hell they were talking about, but knew it had to do with my mother leaving us and wouldn't stand for it. I told her that if she left again, I would run away.  
  
Mom wasn't fazed by my threats and kissed me, Daddy and William goodbye at the airport before getting on her plane. That night I packed some things, and left. I walked around for a while before skateboarding over to Kali's house. Kali had told me that if I ever needed anything, I could come to her at anytime of night.  
  
I stayed the night at Kali's and called Dad the next morning before she left for school, letting him know that I was okay. He was more livid than livid. I've never heard my father sound that mad. He demanded that I come home and stay in my room until he said otherwise. I left Kali's and went to the park instead.  
  
Imagine my surprise when it was Mom who found me in the park and not Dad. She walked up to the fort at the far edge of the playground where we used to come all the time and leaned her elbows on the steps. I didn't see her until she spoke, pulling me out of my textbook induced coma.  
  
"You're father is royally pissed. I am too for that matter." Her voice was calm. The way it is when I know she's super mad. This is the voice I got when she heard about my suspension. This is worse than getting yelled at. "This isn't like you Quinn," She continued. "You've never hit anyone before. Never talked to the principal twice in the same month for anything that wasn't good. Most of all, you've never run away before. What's going on Quinn?" She asked.  
  
I snuck a glance at Mom. She didn't look too pissed, despite what she said. More than anything, she looked concerned. Despite my efforts, Mom caught my gaze and held out her hand to me.  
  
"You can tell me Quinn. I won't yell."  
  
Instead of taking her hand, I turned back to my book and ignored her. Mom sighed and climbed up into the fort with me. As she settled next to me I decided to talk.  
  
"How long are you home for now?" I spoke icily. "I'm sure there's something that you can find to keep you away from us for a little while longer."  
  
Without a word, Mom reached out and pulled me into her arms. As I basked in the comforting presence of my mother, I felt tears slide from my eyes. Soon I was sobbing into her shoulder.  
  
"Don't leave me anymore mommy. Don't leave me. Please don't fight with Daddy anymore. Don't leave." I murmured. She hushed me and kissed my head.  
  
"I promise, no more trips and no more fights. I'm not leaving you ever again Quinn."  
  
"Promise?" I asked in a childlike voice, raising my face to look at her.  
  
My mother smiled softly. "Promise." She imitated my speech pattern. Mom brushed some of the stray hair away from my face and smoothed her fingers over my tear marks.  
  
"Don't fight with Daddy anymore please mommy. William doesn't like it either."  
  
"No more fights honey. Daddy and I made up. I don't have to go out in the field anymore because Skinner made me the department head of The X-Files and I just supervise everyone now. So I get to spend bunches more time with you all and don't have to put myself in danger like Daddy was worried about. That's what this was about wasn't it? Me and Daddy fighting."  
  
I nodded, turning my head away from her again.  
  
"Oh Quinn, baby I'm so sorry." She whispered, pulling me back to her, my body in her lap. "I'm so sorry baby." She whispered repeatedly into my hair. We were silent for a few moments. "I'm really observant, aren't I?" She asked, self deprecatingly.  
  
"You've had a lot to do lately. And William has taken up a lot of time." I answered diplomatically.  
  
"That's not an excuse Quinn and I refuse to hide behind one." She answered with conviction. "I should have seen how this was effecting you. And I'm sorry. Forgive me?" She asked.  
  
I turned in her arms and wrapped my arms around her neck and squeezed. She wrapped her arms tighter around my waist and held me. Suddenly she laughed.  
  
"You're a lot bigger than you were the last time we came here." She paused. "Why haven't we come here in so long?"  
  
"I don't know mommy."  
  
"Me neither baby." We sat in silence for a while then Mom's cell phone rang. Without letting me go she answered. "Scully."  
  
"Yes, I found her. No, we're not coming home yet. We'll be home in a few minutes. Yes. She's just fine. Yes. I love you too Mulder. Bye." With that mom hung up.  
  
"How mad is he?" I asked, burrowing back into mom's shoulder.  
  
"Pretty mad. But he'll cool off. He was more worried about you when he called me than anything."  
  
"When he called you?" I asked, confused.  
  
"Yes. Daddy called me and told me that you'd taken off and hadn't come home even after he told you to and I hopped the first flight home. After all, my little girl is always more important than any case I'm working on."  
  
"Then why did you leave before? After you and Daddy had the fight. And again a few days ago."  
  
"After Daddy and I had the fight, I had to go. Had I stayed, Daddy and I would have fought even more. We would have hurt each other emotionally, and sometimes it's not that easy to fix once you hurt each other emotionally. And had we fought more, it would have inadvertently hurt you more. As for a few days ago, I was going out there to meet with Skinner to talk about working part time or something and he made me department head. Then Dad called me."  
  
I nodded. Letting what she told me sink in. "I think I understand." Mom smiled into my hair and pulled back to drop a kiss on my cheek.  
  
"Come on. Let's go home. Daddy says that William is being fussy and won't take a bottle."  
  
She released me and climbed out of the fort. I gathered my stuff and put everything back in my bag. I tossed my backpack to the ground and went to jump from the fort when Mom grabbed my waist and lifted me down. She held me in place and kissed my hair.  
  
"Quinn, do you have any idea how important you are to me? Do you know that I wouldn't have gotten through all the things that have happened the last few years without you?" Mom whispered. I shook my head. "You're so special to me sweetheart. I need you to know that."  
  
"I know that now."  
  
"Then it's time to go home." She released me and smiled widely. I smiled back and grabbed my bag and my skateboard. Mom and I started walking to her car. We were halfway across the park when I spoke up with what was on my mind.  
  
"Sometimes, I wish that you were my biological mom."  
  
Mom reached out and took my skateboard from my hand and took my hand in her other one. "Why is that Quinn?"  
  
"Cause when I was William's age, my mom wasn't around much. She only nursed me for like two maybe three months before she went back to work full time. I was left with my dad most of the time. And then after he died it was just one babysitter after another. And where I had like the most absent mom possible for my babyhood, William has you. And I, I guess I wish it was me who had the mother who's up in the middle of the night nursing or something like that. My real mom didn't even do that. She made dad use pumped stuff."  
  
"How do you know all this Quinn?" Mom asked, squeezing my hand.  
  
"My Dad, he uh, he kept a journal up until his death. It was in my mom's stuff and when she died, and we had to go through everything earlier this year I found it and kept it."  
  
Mom pulled me into her arms. I rested my head against her shoulder as she gathered her thoughts to speak.  
  
"Sometimes, most of the time. Just about ninety nine percent of the time, I wish that I were your birth mother. Just so I could have held you in my arms when you were a tiny screaming bundle like your brother was as a newborn. And believe me, he screamed. But the other one percent of the time knows that things would have been drastically different were I your biological mother."  
  
"Why?" I asked, slipping an arm around her waist and starting us walking again.  
  
"Because if I had had you in '88, I wouldn't have left med school and joined the FBI. Had I not joined the FBI, I never would have met Mulder and fallen in love with him. And then we never would have had William. And Mulder wouldn't be Daddy to either of you. I don't want to imagine any other man being the father of my children. Am I making sense here?"  
  
"Yea, I guess you are." I sighed and she gave me a squeeze. I released her as we got to the car and Mom opened the trunk for me to dump my stuff in. Then we climbed into the car and mom drove us home while I slept.  
  
When we got home, mom woke me up and grabbed my stuff, leading my inside. I held her hand tightly as she unlocked the door and urged me inside. Daddy met us at the door and gave me a relieved hug before his face hardened and he told me to go to my room.  
  
I watched from inside my door as mom tilted her head up and gave Daddy a kiss. He murmured something that made her smile and she asked about William. Daddy told her that he was down for a nap. Then Daddy asked about me and mom smiled in my direction, where she knew I was watching.  
  
"I think she's been punished enough over the last few weeks, Mulder. She doesn't deserve to be confined to her room."  
  
"You sure, Scully? Cause not only did she get suspended from school, she ran away from home, and then completely disregarded my wishes when I ordered her back home."  
  
I winced as Dad listed off the things I'd done. To my surprise, Mom smiled and looped her arms around Daddy's neck. She kissed Daddy again and whispered that she was sure. Daddy sighed and rested his head on Mom's shoulder before calling.  
  
"Alright Quinn, you can come out of your room now."  
  
I ran out of my room and jumped on Daddy's back. He smiled and grunted before he shifted his weight and gripped my legs so I wouldn't fall.  
  
"You're a charmer, you know that Quinn?" He asked loosening my grip around is neck. "You're choking poor Daddy here honey." He gasped.  
  
"Sorry." I whispered sleepily. I hadn't slept much at Kali's considering I spent most of the night hoping her parents wouldn't come in and pitch a fit about me being there.  
  
Mom reached up and ran her hand over my hair. "Tired?" I nodded. She smiled and pointed toward the couch. Dad walked over there and jumped backward, squashing me into the couch. We both laughed for the first time in a while. Dad wiggled around and reached back to find my stomach and tickle me.  
  
It's always been like this. Mom, Dad and I have laughed together, and we've cried together. Most importantly though, we've been through it together. And that aspect of life is something that will never go away.  
  
End.  
  
Send feedback to CatheyScully@the-pentagon.com or Scully@ga.prestige.net please. And this isn't the last you'll see of Quinn, I promise.  



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